SigmaForex.com

We the members of the Scam Investigations Committee of the Forex Peace Army have deliberated on all the evidence available to us and have reached a conclusion. It is our opinion that...

FPA member Corvinus complained in the FPA forums on November 27, 2009 about not being able to withdraw funds. Sigma already had a long history of excuses for delaying payments. The prior case to be resolved took 49 business days and large amounts of FPA intervention to get a trader paid money owed. In that and several other cases, Sigma claimed that their ability to move funds was limited due to a pending merger. So far, they haven't stated who they are merging with or given any date for regular withdrawals. In the FPA's reviews, there is only a single reviewer who claims to have withdrawn money without any problems. There are a large number who did have issues. Tessa had handled most issues with Sigma and was assigned to this case.

In this case, Sigma said that Corvinus was scalping and pip hunting. Tessa pointed out to Sigma that “pip hunting” is what forex is all about. Corvinus pointed out that his account was of a type where Sigma permitted scalping. Sigma repeatedly denied this, but Tessa got a look inside the account and the description provided by Corvinus was correct.

Despite this, Tessa repeatedly asked Sigma to specify exactly which trades were in dispute and also asked why Sigma continued to process orders that they claimed were against their rules. Sigma never would give an accounting of the trades. They claimed that the accounting department would do it, but never could give any answer. They ignored all questions about why trading that was supposedly against the rules was allowed to continue.

The final promise to determine which trades really were being disputed was on December 13th, 2009. Sigma hasn't responded to any emails since.

Even if Sigma Forex's rules were violated, they owe Corvinus whatever was in the account that is not disputed. They also owe him an explanation for any canceled trades. We consider this to be improperly taking money that is owed to a trader. This qualifies SigmaForex under the FPA's 1st definition of scam.

Further, Sigma is based in the UK. Their company registration specifies that they are a “non-trading” company. SigmaForex claims the registration with companieshouse.gov.uk is their registration with a regulator. As far as we can determine, this governmental organization is just for business licenses, not forex regulation. They are not registered with the FSA or any other regulator that we have found. They do have a page in their website that claims they are “in compliance” with a large number of financial regulators. Some of those have posted warnings about Sigma, since it is not registered with them.

Under these circumstances, SigmaForex has forced us to declare it to be a scam. We offer Sigma Forex the opportunity to have this scam finding lifted by meeting these requirements. First SigmaForex must pay Corvinus for the full amount of his account immediately. Considering that they could not get a total of disputed trades more than a month afterwards, we can no longer trust their honesty on any disputed trade in this case. All evidence we've seen points to Corvinus following the all of Sigma's rules. Second, Sigma must publicly apologize to Corvinus for failing to pay him in a timely fashion and for not negotiating in good faith.. Third, SigmaForex must disclose any issues of merger-related withdrawal delays on their homepage. That may be withdrawn only when these delays end. Fourth, SigmaForex must publicly agree that there will never be another case of any non-disputed amount not being paid to traders within 30 days. Fifth, Sigma Forex must agree that if there are disputes over trades, that a list of the disputed trades will be made available to the trader within 10 business days. Sixth, SigmaForex must register with the FSA or move to another country and register there.. They must also only list regulators that are really registered with on their website. Regarding a previously resolved case, we add a Seventh requirement. Whether or not a trader is suspended, Sigma may not close ½ of a hedge without the trader's express permission. If partial closure becomes necessary, it must be done equally on both the long and short positions, not to only one side of the trade.

SigmaForex is hereby blacklisted by the Forex Peace Army. We urge traders not to do business with this company. For those who already have accounts there, we recommend that you close them and try to get your money out. We urge Corvinus and anyone else who is owed money to file complaints with the FSA, FOS, and whatever organization deals with internet fraud in your country.



We wish thank FPA Investigator Tessa for her efforts on this case and in so many other cases with Sigma. We thank senior FPA member Pharaoh for writing up the article that accompanies this scam finding. We extend our regrets to FPA member Corvinus for his loss of funds.



Discussion Thread for this Scam Finding

Corvinus' s original complaint

FPA Review Page for Sigma Forex
 
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